Death toll from Turkey-Syria earthquake surpasses 25,000

Feb. 11 (UPI) -- The death toll from Monday's devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria is continuing to climb, surpassing 25,000 as of late Saturday, according to a new official count.

Officials confirmed more than 80,000 injuries as of 7:30 p.m. local time stemming from the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes which struck early Monday morning, according to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Nearly 2,000 aftershocks also hit the region with more than 13 million people across 10 provinces affected in some way.

At least 1,000 Syrians who were in the region of southern Turkey along the border are also among the dead. Their bodies are being taken back to Syria by truck for burial, officials said.

Makeshift graveyards are popping up across the outskirts of the disaster zone, reports indicated.

More than 81,400 people have been evacuated so far from damaged areas, Turkish officials said in the latest update Saturday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday again warned people against looting in the aftermath of the devastation.

The country has deployed more than 140,0000 search and rescue workers from several different agencies so far. Officials reported they have fielded calls from 6,810 individual rescue teams from multiple different countries offering assistance.

Edroğan toured the disaster zone Friday, the same day the White House pledged $85 million worth of emergency assistance. Addressing concerns the country was not equipped to handle such a large-scale disaster, he told reporters it was "not possible to be prepared for such a disaster."

Edroğan also stated the country's goal is to rebuild and recover from the damage "in one year."

Turkey's parliament on Friday declared a three-month state of emergency.

The Austrian army, meanwhile, suspended its rescue operations Saturday due to security concerns.

"The expected success of saving a life bears no reasonable relation to the security risk. There is increasing aggression between groups in Turkey," Lt. Col. Pierre Kugelweis told CNN.

Multiple reports surfaced of survivors defying death and being pulled from the rubble after being trapped for over 100 hours. German rescue team members said they pulled a woman from the debris alive Friday, although they later confirmed she had died from her injuries.